


The Other Winter Soldier

by buckyscrystalqueen



Series: The Other Winter Soldier [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-11 22:28:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16861348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyscrystalqueen/pseuds/buckyscrystalqueen





	1. Chapter 1

You could tell just by the slightest shift of his mannerisms that the Winter Soldier knew he was being followed. Though, you weren’t trying to be covert; not today at least. After all, you had been following him for the past month and he didn’t even notice until that day. But then again, you were the most lethal assassin in the world. Even more lethal than him in more ways than one.

He let you follow you a couple more blocks as the two of you dipped around New York City shoppers in Midtown Manhattan. You, personally, didn’t like the city despite how easy it made hiding. It was just so loud. You preferred the likes of Eastern Europe but Thailand was your favorite place to hide. 

You watched the soldier, Bucky you had learned all 15 years ago, dip down an alley. You took a deep breath as you dropped the hood of your jacket, your face still hidden by a baseball cap. You stepped around the corner and walked toward the trash dumpster you knew he had to have been standing behind.

“Why are you following me?” Bucky demanded as he suddenly reached out, grabbed you by your throat and slammed you into the wall behind the dumpster. You kept your face hidden for a moment and let him think he had control.

“You’re the only person who can help me.” You though. You used the mutation the super soldier serum had given you to force the thought into his head as you looked up at him. You watched his eyes go wide as his grip on your throat lessened.

“(Y/N)?” He thought as his eyes searched yours. You nodded as you slowly reached up with your left hand and pulled off your hat. You let your long (Y/H/C) hair fall down your back as he let you go and took a step back. 

“Hi Bucky.” You said out loud. His eyes danced over your body before settling on your right arm where it hung, dead next to you. His brow furrowed slightly at the rigidity of it. “That’s part of the reason I’m here.” You said as you put your hat back on with your left hand. “It’s short circuiting. But I’m here for you.” His eyes shot up to you and he took another step back. You took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. “Buck, someone wants me to take you out.”

——

“I don’t know who it was.” You told Bucky as the two of you sat in the old, abandoned Renwick small pox hospital on Roosevelt Island just east of Manhattan. You had been calling it home for the month you spent watching the soldier. Bucky helped you out of your jacket and your long sleeve flannel so he could look at the lovely, currently damaged metal arm HYDRA had given you. “His Russian was shit so I don’t think he was HYRDA. He pulled me and only me out of cryo over a year ago and told me my mission was to find and kill you and anyone you were with.”

“What happened here?” Bucky asked as he looked at the smashed panels of your arm. You shook your head and shrugged as you started to collect wood from your dwindling wood pile with your real arm to start a fire in a small metal trash can in the basement.

“He didn’t wake me up from cryo like HYDRA used to; those shocks… by the time I came too completely, I heard voices yelling so I hid. Didn’t know if it was HYRDA or not but all the other soldiers were dead so I wasn’t risking anything.” Bucky came over and took your place in setting up the small fire and you gave him a weak, appreciative nod as you moved to sit on a broken chair you had found upstairs. 

“The people were fighting about something, I couldn’t figure out what but then the building started to come down. I got trapped under a pile of rubble when I was trying to figure it out and my arm got crushed. It took me a minute to get out but the second I did, I ran to find you. Figured you’d either help me or put me out of my misery.” 

“I would never put you out of your misery, doll. You mean too much to me. You helped me through some tough times.” You nodded in agreement as he lit your little fire and grabbed a seat on the bottom of the stairs. “I just had my arm fixed myself. Had to go to Wakanda, spent a little time in cryo and they erased the brainwashing.” You smiled and looked over at him.

“That explains why I couldn’t find you for a while. I can honestly say, with no offense meant, that I am grateful I was able to skirt around that.” He nodded as he leaned back on the step behind him.

“For your sake, so am I. But I still have to wonder, if you didn’t have your brain shit if you would have had to go through that.” He gestured to your dead arm. You glanced down at it and shrugged.

“It’s not an issue when it works. But anytime I move it right now and I get a massive shock.” He hissed and cringed as he sat up and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket.

“I’ll call Steve. See what we can do about getting it looked at and fixed.”

“I don’t want people to know I exist. I just want to go back to Asia or Europe and go back into hiding. I don’t want HYDRA finding me and I don’t wanna be used for my abilities either” He nodded as he dialed a number before his fingers froze. He looked up at you with his brow furrowed.

“How long have you been out of cryo?”

“One year, seven months, two weeks and four days.” Bucky mumbled ‘shit’ as he finished dialing the number.

“The man who let you out of cryo is in the hands of the UN. He’s not HYDRA but he wants all the Avengers dead and thought you would be the one capable of doing it. I was there when that building burned down.” He looked up at you as he hit ‘send’ and put the phone to his ear.

“Guess it’s a good thing I faked my brainwashing then. Neither of us would have made it out of that building.”

—— 

“Now, I need you to not freak out.” Bucky said as he led Steve down the dark stairs to the basement. You moved so that you were standing in the light of a stolen lantern as you watched the two men come down the stairs. “She won’t hurt you. I trust her with my life.” You watched Steve stop short and take a step back up the stairs as he looked at you.

“What is this?” He asked Bucky; his eyes staying trained on your metal arm.

“She’s one of the super soldiers but she isn’t going to hurt us. I just need you to hear us out.” Steve panicked and took another step back up. You didn’t want to do it, but you couldn’t risk him leaving and giving away your existence.

“Your going to come back down the stairs, sit down and hear us out.” You said, using your abilities to force him to comply. It was like ‘The Force’ from Star Wars. You took a step back as Steve walked back down the stairs and sat down on the last step. You looked up at Bucky and whispered ‘sorry’ and with a small nod to you, knowing exactly what you did, he moved the chair in front of his friend and sat down.

“She was never brain washed but she is a super soldier. Stronger than me even, because I was the one who trained her and the rest of them. But when they gave her the serum, it unlocked her abilities. She is capable of making people do things simply by suggesting it, she can read thoughts and project her thoughts into other people’s minds. She can even make people see things.” He looked back at you and nodded. “Show him the waterfall.”

“The nightmare one?” You asked as your brow furrowed and Bucky nodded once more. You gave him a small returning nod and projected the image into Steve’s head.

“Oh, my God!” Steve said as he began to look around the room. You knew he was seeing a jungle with a large waterfall right in front of him. Your projections were so vivid, you knew he could not only hear the flow of the water and the sounds of jungle animals but he could smell them as well. If he didn’t know any better, he would have honestly thought you had transported him to the jungle.

“Bring him back.” Bucky said and you pulled the image from Steve’s mind. “I have one more to show you to prove a point but you need to understand, we are all right here in New York and no one’s getting hurt no matter what she makes you see.” Steve nodded as he looked over at you expectantly. Bucky sighed and looked back at you. “Do the thing.” 

“You wanna see it, too?” He shook his head and you took a deep breath and sighed. You hated seeing the faces accompanied with this vision.

Steve jumped a bit as the basement around him transformed into a HYDRA base torture chamber. You sat in the middle of the room in a large chair being shocked with high volts of electricity. Your made up screams echoed in Steve’s head as a HYRDA agent shouted out the code words to turn you into an active soldier. You let the image run though until he saw you comply before you brought him back to the basement.

“They shocked me once before I started projecting my torment. I made the man at the switch think he threw it and everyone saw what you just did. This happened when I was in cryo.” You said as you pointed at your metal arm. “I guess my visions were too good because they wanted me to take his place.” Steve looked at you with a look of pure sadness and shook his head.

“I’m so sorry.” You shook your head and waved him off with your left arm.

“I had a lot of awake time to work through my issues when I wasn’t staving off his nightmares or telling him stories. We kept each other company.” You said as you sat down on the small wood pile. “Look, HYRDA killed my family to get me to comply and I lost my arm to them. Now, I can be grateful that I got to help Bucky out when he needed it, I know how to speak like 31 different languages and I can kick the Winter Soldier’s ass on his best day because he basically taught me how. My abilities help me stay hidden and keep people away from me. I just need help with this.” You said as you pointed to your arm. “But I have gone over a year and a half without it so if you can’t help me, I’ll just go. I don’t wanna cause trouble…”

“No, no that’s not it at all.” Steve said as he stood up almost as if to block the exit. “We can help you, but I don’t have a choice but to let Tony know. I have no other way to get you to Wakanda quickly without him.” You glanced over at Bucky.

“Are you coming with me?” You asked him, mentally. He nodded in response and you looked back at Steve. “OK. Let’s go talk to Tony, but you can do the talking. Let them think I’m mute or foreign or something. I’ll just think to you two.”

——

“Do we have to keep her in the box?” Steve asked as four guys strapped down the large, metal, transportable jail cell you were in at the back of the Quinjet. “She’s not gunna hurt anyone.”

“I’m not taking any risks.” Tony said as he stood off to your right, monitoring the progress. “It’s bad enough I have to deal with him.” He said as he gestured to Bucky with his thumb.

“I really wanna fuck with him.” You thought to Bucky as you kept your eyes straight forward. “What do you think he would like to see more; me breaking out of the box or the plane crashing?” Bucky snorted a laugh as you closed your eyes and leaned your head back against the chair with a smile on your face.

“What are you laughing at, Buck?” Steve asked from as Tony checked the straps while Natasha started the jet. Bucky shook his head as he fought to collect himself.

“Say it was a joke you saw on TV the night before.” You fed him. You smirked to yourself as Bucky told Steve what you had said. Steve glanced over at you out of the corner of his eye and nodded as the jet took off and headed to Wakanda.

“What did you tell him?” Steve thought over Tony’s mental bitching about a second Winter Soldier. You picked your head up and opened one eye to look at Steve.

“Debating what to show Stark. Me breaking out of the box or the jet crashing.” You watched Steve smirk and fight to keep his laughter in as you settled back into your chair and closed your eyes again. You gave it a few minutes before you thought of a story in your mind and fed the images to Bucky. You used to do this just to pass the time when he was fighting himself as the Winter Soldier. You heard him mentally sigh as he sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, letting your story of choice, Slaughterhouse-Five, play out in his head.

“That’s one of my favorites.” Bucky though as you finished, only minutes before you landed. You nodded with your eyes still closed.

“I remember. That one and Lord of the Flies.” You could feel him trying to place the story in his memories. You picked your head up and looked at him as you gave him a brief run down of the story as the jet landed.

“You’ll have to tell me that one again. It’s not clicking.” You nodded to him as a few people from Wakanda came in to escort you out at gunpoint. 

“Go slow with her arm.” Bucky snapped as Tony popped the lock on the door and unlocked the thick, metal straps holding you down. You committed the unlock code to memory from Tony’s thoughts as you stood up, cringing and letting out a whine when your arm settled at your side, sending an almost crippling shock through your upper arm, shoulder, chest and back. You shook your head a bit and stepped out of the box.

“Let’s get her to the med bay.” A man in an all-white medical suit said. You followed his gesture as the four Wakandan’s with guns took point around you. You forced yourself not to roll your eyes.

“Did they do this to you?” You asked Bucky as he fell into step beside you. He barely shook his head as the two of you kept your eyes straight forward.

“No. I’m a victim here. I don’t know why they are doing this to you.” You looked over at him, catching his eye for only a moment before looking down at your arm.

“I’m a risk. You had Steve. I don’t have anyone but you that really knows I’m not a threat and you can’t explain why you know that. To them, I’m just a brainwashed Winter Soldier.” You paused with the small group at the medical bay.

“We should have her arm fixed in a few hours. The brainwashing will take some time.”

“Tell them you need to be with me incase I have an episode.” You mentally shouted to Bucky. “Say you’re the only one that has a chance to contain me.” Bucky relayed your message to the doctor. The man simply nodded as he gestured the small group into the medical bay. You glanced back at Tony, Nat and Steve on the far side of the door as you were lead to an operating room.

“We need you to take off your top so we can get to the shoulder." You nodded as Bucky stepped toward you and helped you.

“You’re gunna be just fine.” He said as he simply ripped the shirt in half so he didn’t bother your arm at all.

“At least take a girl out for drinks first.” You teased out loud in Russian. He chuckled as he shoved the torn t-shirt in his pocket.

“Steve always used to tell me I moved to fast.” He joked as he carefully tore the right strap of your bra. He handed you the front strap and pressed his chest against yours in an attempt to keep you sort of modest while he ripped the back part of the strap off the back.

“You know you still owe me dinner. Do you remember the night you had planned?” His brow furrowed as he leaned back to look at you regarding your silent question.

“Remind me while they work?” You nodded at his thought as you were lead over to the table. You laid down and laid your arm out as gently as you could on the part that was meant for your arm.

“Can you tell her we need to strap her down for all our safety?” One of the nurses asked Bucky. You sarcastically thought ‘seriously’ in his head as he repeated what the doctor said in Russian; the only language you let on to knowing.

“I just have the strong urge to fuck with everyone.” You thought him in response as they strapped your body down.

“With Sargent Barnes, we were able to do this in cryo.” The scientist explained as a couple nurses brought over tools and pieces of metal that they were going to have to fit to your arm on the spot. Bucky translated simply for posterity as the doctor continued. “Unfortunately, we are not capable of doing that. So this will be a long and sometimes painful process and I am very sorry in advance for that.”

“Oh, fuck.” You groaned when Bucky had finished. “Shit just tell them to cut the fucking thing off, man. I’ll survive without an arm.” You said as someone gave Bucky a chair. He sat down next to you and took your hand in his.

“I’ll help you like you helped me. We can do this, doll.” You nodded as the electric sound of tools and machines firing up filled the room. “Now, remind me.” He thought as they got started.

You started from the beginning, showing him the outfit he said he would wear and the dress the two of you had decided would be that you wear. You showed him the details he had described of the restaurant he wanted to take you two. He changed little details here and there; adjusting them as he remembered more about his favorite restaurant in Brooklyn from when he was growing up. Neither of you even knew if it was still around but this game was a good way to distract yourselves from the HYDRA torment 15 years prior. By hour two, the Wakandan scientists found your nerve center. Indescribable ripped through you as they fought to get your whole arm working again.

“Hey, look at me.” Bucky shouted in Russian as he jumped on top of you on the table seconds after you easily broke out of the metal restraints. “Look at me!” Tears streamed from your eyes as he used his body weight to hold you down. Your tear blurred (Y/E/C) eyes met his steel grey blue eyes as he hovered inches away from your face. “Let’s do Steeplechase. We never finished that.” You sobbed and nodded as you forced yourself to bring up the entrance of the park he went to as a child. You had only gotten through part of it before they put you back in cryo.

As Bucky held you in place, his eyes boring into yours, the two of went through the every single detail of the classic theme park. He forced you to focus on his thoughts, cataloging every lightbulb, game, sound and smell he could come up with; real or imaginary. Through the three hours of pain, he gently brushed your tears away. After that, he stayed where he was and gently brushed his thumb lovingly across your cheek as the Wakandan’s worked as fast as they could rebuilding your arm from the shoulder down. To anyone watching, it looked like Bucky was simply laying on top of you and staring at you. But to the two of you, he was helping work you through your own personal hell. 

“Just gotta square out those ferris wheel wheel buckets, doll.” Bucky thought softly as he glanced over at your arm at the end of hour eight. You weakly corrected what he told you as he looked back down at you. “That’s perfect. You’re almost done, baby doll.” You nodded as you let the image of the park fade from both your minds. You turned your head into his hand as exhaustion took over and let your eyes flutter closed. “Hey, stay with me, doll.” You nodded and looked back up at him as he cupped your jaw in his hand.

“I’m so tired.” You mumbled in Romanian, not even capable to think in Russian at the moment. He nodded as he smiled down at you.

“I know, doll. You’re doing so good for me. Just stay awake with me a little longer, baby.” You nodded as you rolled your head to the right to look at your arm for the first time. The shiny metal looked so foreign to you compared to the tarnished, broken metal that had been there before. You tentatively moved one finger and sighed in relief when you received no jolt of pain.

“They did it.” You thought to Bucky as you watched the man adjust the shape of the last four panels. Your arm still looked like a metal jigsaw puzzle but it looked like a better version of your original metal arm.

“Want to arm wrestle?” Bucky thought. You looked back up at him and rolled your eyes, lazily.

“We both know I would win.” He smirked and nodded as two of the last few pieces were put into place and fastened together. “You may be the HYDRA ghost but you trained me to be better.”

“Yea, yea.” He thought as he rolled his eyes. You both looked back over as the last two pieces were put into place.

“Can you ask her to move her fingers, please?” The man who was the head of the project asked. Bucky translated, unnecessarily as he sat up and got off the table. You immediately missed the weight as you carefully curled your fingers into your palm. The man had you run through the rest of your arm; moving your wrist, bending your elbow and moving your arm up and down. You laughed as raised your arm above your head and windmilled it in a circle next to your body.

“That is so weird to do after a year and a half of not having an arm.” You said in Russian as you looked at your arm. You turned back to the Wakandan and smiled.

“Thank you.” You said in English. “Thank you so much.” He nodded and bowed his head to you. You turned back toward Bucky as you showed him your hand. “I’m shiny.” He laughed and nodded as the door to the med bay opened.

“Alright. Let’s get the super killer in the box for the night.” Your smile fell at Tony’s words.

“Whoa! She just spent nine hours having her arm fixed. Why does she…” Steve tried but Tony looked back at him.

“Because that was the agreement. T’Challa and his men fix the arm then she goes back into the box until we can find out how and why she hunted us down. No more murderers on the loose.”

“Let it happen.” You thought to both Steve and Bucky. Steve rolled his eyes and tossed his hands in the air as Tony looked back at Natasha.

“Tell her she’s going in the box for the night. We can’t risk having her running around, picking us off in our sleep.” Nat nodded as she stepped forward and translated half of what Tony said.

“Stay close to where ever they have me. I’m not staying long and I’d like to say goodbye to you.” Bucky’s head shot over to you at the thought as you followed Natasha at gunpoint out of the med bay and down a hall. The small group lead you into a large room that had nothing in it but the jail cell box you had been brought to Wakanda in.

“Take a seat. We’ll bring you something to eat and drink. You can use the restroom after that to shower and clean up.” You nodded to Natasha as you stepped into the box and sat down. You didn’t fight as as you lined your legs and arms up to where they needed to be. You lifted your head up out of the way as the thick, heavy straps across your chest were fastened.

“You’re not even gunna give her clothes?” Bucky asked as he pointed at your nearly bare torso.

“When we give her dinner, we will.” Tony said as the straps around your limbs were locked into place.

“You’re a real class act, Mr. Stark. Such a gentleman.” You said in English as you looked at the man. His face dropped as the door was closed in front of you. You kept your eyes locked on his as the door was secured. 

“You can speak English?” He asked as he stepped up to the box and looked at you. A slow, small smile spread across your face. You didn’t say a word as you twisted your metal arm slightly in the brace and flipped him off. You closed your eyes and leaned your head back against the seat as Tony fumed. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?! What else haven’t you told us?” He screamed as he bashed his fist on the door. Your smile got bigger but you kept your eyes closed.

“Is his face all red?” You thought to Bucky. “It is, isn’t it?” You heard Bucky cough to cover up his laughter as Tony tried to get answers out of you.

“Alright, Tony. Let’s let her sit for a while. We have all had a long day.” Steve said as he stepped forward. Tony shouted and stormed out of the room.

“Smooth.” Steve thought to you. You opened one eye to look at him and with a simple shrug, you went back to closing your eyes.

“I’ll stay as close as I can.” Bucky thought to you as he headed out of the room with Nat, Steve and the other Wakandan’s. You nodded subtly as the room was plunged into darkness.

——

You bided your time; taking the meal that was offered to you and eating it with your fingers with no complaints when they refused to give you silverware. You showered under the watchful eye of Natasha and a few female Wakandans and thanked them all when you were brought back to your box. You didn’t even complain when they didn’t give you any clothes other than a tank top and a pair of boxer shorts ‘just in case’. You simply waited. 

At two in the morning, you were in an intense, hour long stare down with Natasha, who was your guard for the night.

“Can you go get Bucky for me?” You asked sweetly. She huffed a laugh and shook her head.

“Not a chance.” You smiled at her and tilted your head slightly to the side.

“Go get Bucky for me.” You watched her entire demeanor change as your abilities took control. She nodded as she got up from her chair and left the room. With a heavy sigh, you waited for the two people to come back. It was only a minute. “Go use the bath room and get some water.” You instructed Natasha. She didn’t even fight your command as she turned and left the room. You waited only a moment.

“Get me out of this thing.” You said as Bucky ran over. “2-4-5-8-1-9-3.” He nodded as he put the code in. You both held your breath as you waited for the lock to pop. You didn’t know what was going to happen if you memorized the code wrong. The second it took to register the code felt like it took forever but the pop of the locks was almost music to your ears.

“I’m coming with you, doll.” He said as he grabbed the two braces around your ankles and ripped them off.

“Not happening.” You told him as you freed your arms and your chest.

“We don’t have time to fight about it. I’m going with my girl.” You groaned as the two of you darted out of the room.

“Don’t let me go. You’re not gunna be able to see me.” He nodded as you grabbed his metal wrist in your metal hand. He grabbed your wrist as you soundlessly walked through the halls on the balls of your feet. You projected a ball of perceived invisibility around the two of you so anyone that came down the hall didn’t see you and neither did any cameras. You followed the path that you took into the place with baited breath, waiting for the moment that Natasha would return and realize you were gone. As you came to the doors to the outside, the alarm was sounded.

“Help me.” You said as you moved Bucky’s hand to the door. Each of you grabbed a side and pulled, creating a three foot gap between the two doors.

“Go.” He said as he shoved you through the door. You squeezed through the slot and ran. You could head Bucky’s boots behind you as the two of you dashed across the Quinjet platform.

“It’s gunna be a jump.” You called out as you picked up and inhuman speed. Bucky was right next to you as the doors to the platform opened behind you.

“…tracker in her arm, but no! Now do you see why I said we should have…?” Tony said as you and Bucky leapt off the platform. You sailed through the air and into the trees of the jungle below.

“Don’t stop running.” You told him as the two of you sailed through the air. You could hear your pursuers coming after you in some kind of vehicle as the two of you slammed into the ground.

“Can’t you stop them?” Bucky asked as you dodged trees and ran full force, toppling out around 60 miles an hour.

“If I stop them, I have to stop you, too. I can’t do a blanket without getting everyone.” He nodded as he soared over a failed tree. You could tell just by the sounds that you were losing the vehicle part of your pursuers. Now that just meant escaping…

“You both need to stop.” Tony said as he flew between the two of you. You looked over at him and cringed.

“You couldn’t find us and you don’t want to look for us any more.” You said, using your abilities against him.

“What?” He demanded. “What are you talking about?”

“Damn it.” You grumbled as you reached out and grabbed his arm with your new arm. “Help me hold him.” You said as you swung Tony around in front of you. You came to a complete stop as Bucky wrapped his arms around Tony. You dodged a gun popping out of his suit as you ripped off the mask of his suit.

“Watch his chest thing.” Bucky shouted over the sound of it powering up. You had just enough time to move out of the way as he blasted a huge hole into the trees behind you.

“Don’t search for us anymore. You don’t want to see us ever again. Your suit malfunctioned and you couldn’t find us.” You said as you looked Tony directly in the eyes. You watched the fight leave him instantly. “Leave him.” You said as you dropped the mask of the suit. Bucky let Tony fall to the ground and the two of you took off once more.

“You know that won’t work for long. He has video in that thing.” He said as the two of you ran through the Wakandan jungle. You nodded as you ducked under a tree.

“I know.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So why did you come with me anyways?” You asked Bucky as you stepped out of the bathroom in the run down apartment you were squatting in in Moldova. Bucky looked up at you as you towel dried your hair.

“I lost you once, I won’t lose you again. Besides, I know what it’s like to hide out alone and like I said before, you helped me, I’m gunna help you.” You plopped down on the broken couch in just a towel and sighed.

“I’m condemning you to life on the run, Buck. I can’t ask that of you.” He nodded as he put his pen in his journal and pushed it off to the side.

“You didn’t have to ask. We have seen each other at our worsts and now I wanna see you at your best.” He got up and grabbed the towel from your hand; one of two towels of you had at the moment, as he headed to the bathroom to shower. “Besides, you saw my at my current best when you were stalking me.” You flipped him off as he chuckled and headed into the bathroom.

“That was for personal gain.” You said as you moved to the door way. You leaned against the frame with your back to him as you adjusted the other towel you owned around your body. “I needed your help with my arm with no intention of you coming with me after.”

“Well I made the choice for myself to spend some time with a beautiful dame then.” He said as he turned the water on. You heard the soft ‘plop’ of his clothes hitting the ground as you looked at your new metal hand to give him his privacy.

“You know I could make you go back.” You said as you looked up at your little home. The windows were partially covered with boards and news papers and the abandoned building had no electricity in it so an eerie glow filled the room from the setting sun. Neither of you dared to uncover the windows. You heard Bucky take two large steps up to you and he pressed his chest against your back.

“You couldn’t do it.” He said in your right ear as he gently reached up and moved your wet hair over your left shoulder. “I know there is no way, after everything we have been through together and everything we have talked about, there is no way you could send me away.” Chills raced up your spine as he leaned his head down and kissed the crude connection of your metal arm to your shoulder; the mirror image of his own. You couldn’t stop the breathy gasp that left your mouth as his lips danced up the side of your neck. 

“Tell me to stop.” He whispered in your ear as his metal hand wrapped around the top of the back of your towel. “Tell me that this moment hasn’t raced through your mind before.” His hand didn’t move on your towel as he ran his hand up your metal arm. “Tell me you don’t want me as much as I want you.” You turned to look at him, letting his hand pull the towel off in the slight shift of your body.

“You know I’d be lying if I did.” He let out a low groan as his lips crashed to yours. The kiss was desperate and needy as your tongues battled for dominance. You wrapped your arms around his neck as he lifted you off the floor. He carried you over to the shower as your fingers tangled in his hair.

“I need you.” He said as he pulled back for air and pinned you up against the wall.

“Please.” You whined as you ran the tips of your fingers down his back; scratching him with your left as the right pressed hard into the muscles on his back.

“Oh, fuck!” He groaned as his head fell backwards. “Do that again, baby.” You leaned forward and bit his earlobe as you crossed your hands behind his back and scratched again. Without warning, he thrust his hips forward and dragged his rock hard, thick length against your clit.

“Please. Bucky, I need you.” You begged as you leaned back and reached down between the two of you. You wrapped your hand around his length for only a moment before he moved his hand off the back of your thigh and moved your hand out of the way.

“Been a long time.” He said as he teased your entrance. “Won’t last.”

“Won’t take me long to cum on your cock either.” He groaned as he slid into you in one push. You cried out at the pleasant stretch and wrapped your arms around him as your forehead landed on his shoulder.

“I know, baby, I know. I got you.” You could feel his body shivering as he let you adjust to his size, fighting the urge to just take you like he wanted. After a moment, when the need for him to move became over whelming, you sat up and nodded.

“Move, Bucky.” He growled at the thick, seductive demand.

“I’m not holding back.” He said as his grip on your thighs tightened. You nodded and scratched your nails across his shoulders and back. He smirked as he popped his hips against yours. “I want the whole block to know you’re mine.” You opened your mouth to respond but the words turned into a shriek as Bucky slammed into you at a punishing pace. He chuckled darkly as you tangled your left hand in his hair.

“That’s it, baby. Let me hear you.” He purred as he pulled your thighs apart and held them out to the side to bury himself deeper.

“Fuck! Bucky, fuck, fuck fuck.” You shouted as you slammed your head back into the wall and arched your back to let him in impossibly deeper.

“So fucking tight and perfect.” He growled. The sound of his voice sent a wave of heat to your core as the coil in your stomach tightened, threateningly. Bucky growled again and gripped your thighs almost painfully tight as your body reacted to the noises he made.

“Shit, Bucky, fuck I… I…” Your words began to jumble to simply garbled sounds as his hips slammed even harder into you. He growled again, as he rested his sweat drenched forehead against yours.

“Cum… I need… feel…” His gruff words went straight to your core and your coil snapped.

“Bucky!” You screamed as your orgasm exploded in you. You let your metal arm fall to your side so you didn’t hurt him as your finger nails dug into his back. The combination of pain on his back and the pleasure of your tight walls gripping his length, sent him over the edge. He slammed into you as deeply as possible and exploded. He shouted incoherently as your walls convulsed around him and pulled every drop of his release from him while your entire body ignited in shockwaves. He continued to slam into you, letting you both ride out your highs until oversensitivity took over.

“Fuck, baby.” He groaned as he moved your legs back around his waist, dropped his head to your shoulder and held himself up on the wall. “That was…” You nodded as you panted to catch your breath and looked at the deep scratches on his back.

“I think we may need to move after that one.” You said as you reached out and got a handful of ice cold water in your palm. Bucky chuckled as you slowly poured the water down his back. He shivered a bit as you washed the little bit of blood off.

“When we do, can we find somewhere that has power? Cold showers are only good for post workouts or moments like this.” You smiled as you rubbed your metal hand across his back to cool him down.

“We’ll move on tomorrow. We’ve been here a couple days so it’s about that time anyways.” Bucky pulled away from your shoulder and you moved your hands to the back of his neck.

“I’ll move anywhere with you, baby.” He smirked as he glanced down at where he was still inside of you. “As long as we can do that every day.” You rolled your eyes and gave him a chaste kiss.

“No, I’m sending you away from me.” You joked as you tightened your legs around him.

“Oh, you think so?” He asked as he turned and held you under the frigid water.

“No!” You screamed as you only partially tried to wiggle away. Bucky laughed for only a second before you reached up and turned the nozzle toward his face. You left it there for only a second before turning it to face the wall.

“Well, now I’m leaving willingly.” He said as he pulled out of you and gently put you down. He kept his hands on your hips and pulled them flush against his. You slid your hands down his chest and wrapped them around his waist.

“Nope. You have to stay with me.” He mock pouted as he rested his forehead on yours.

“Fine, I’ll stay with an amazing woman and continue to have mind-blowing sex with her.”

“Oh, my God.” You groaned. He gave you a chaste kiss before he turned you around in the shower.

“Now, shower then bed. We gotta move somewhere warmer tomorrow.”


	2. Chapter 2

~~~~~~~ 1 YEAR LATER ~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure you’re OK with this?” Bucky asked as the two of you walked through the streets of New York toward Central Park. You giggled as you played with his fingers while walking down 7th Avenue.

“Bucky, how many times do I have to tell you I’m with you on this? We know it’s probably not gunna be pleasant for me for a while but as long as you fight to stay with me, we can do this together. We have to.” He sighed as you quickly crossed west 59th street and headed into the park.

“I hate how conflicted I am about this.” He said as you headed toward a bench. You huffed and took a seat.

“Well, we are still technically not visible here. You can change your mind and we can go back into hiding and just handle it ourselves.” He shook his head slowly as he ran his metal hand through his hair. 

“I just hate knowing I’m gunna be hurting you.” He said as he squeezed your hand in his. You turned on the bench as you covered his hand with yours.

“Pain is temporary. You know that as well as I do. Besides that, they only have a small idea of what I am capable of." He nodded as you glanced around the park. You looked back over at him and smiled, despite the knots in your stomach. “You ready?” He nodded as he looked over at you.

“I love you. You know that, right?” Your smile grew and you gave him a chaste kiss.

“I love you, too. I’ll be OK, babe.” With one more nod from him, you took a deep breath and let your mental guard down. You let go of Bucky’s hand as you recreated your path to the park in your mind so that your faces would purposely be caught on camera. You felt Bucky pull off your sweater hood and your hat. He untangled your hair for you as you caught the street cameras up to real time. After only a few minutes, you sat back on the bench as a ‘whoosh’ sound filled the air.

“That was fast.” Bucky said as the two of you watched the Quinjet hover above Central Park. You nodded as Tony flew in next to it and landed on the ground in front of you.

“Up, let’s go.” He shouted as he pointed at you with his guns drawn on his shoulders. With a heavy sigh, you got off the bench with Bucky and headed toward the jet.

“Don’t even think about putting her in the box.” Bucky said as the two of you climbed up the jet ramp, eyeing the jail cell secured off to the side.

“We don’t know what she’s capable of! Hell, we don’t know what you’re capable of anymore.” Tony snapped as he tried to move between the two of you.

“Don’t.” You snapped as you stared into the glowing eyes of the Ironman suit. “I sit in a chair next to him or I will rip you apart and not think twice about it.” Tony eyed you down as Steve got up from the pilot seat after setting the auto-pilot.

“Let them be, Tony. They have a reason to come out of hiding and we both know they didn’t have to.”

“We would have found them eventually.” Tony grumbled as he conceded and stepped away. Steve gave Bucky a strong hug as you grabbed a seat. Bucky sat down next to you as Steve took a seat in front of you in the pilot’s seat.

“So, why did you two come forward?” Steve asked. Bucky glanced over at you as you ran your metal fingers through your hair.

“HYDRA is trying to reform.” Steve’s eyes shot over to his friend before shooting up to Tony.

“It's a small cell just inside the Russian boarder by Belarus. We’ve been keeping an eye on it for a couple months and it hasn’t grown too big but we didn’t know if you would be OK if we just handled it ourselves…”

“How many people?” Steve asked.

“Last count was two days ago before we came here.” You said as you looked over at Bucky.

“At least 30 in four months. It’s slow moving and they are just recruiting right now but…” Tony scoffed as he moved to see both of your faces.

“You two are gunna take out 30 HYDRA agents by yourselves when both of you could be turned at any moment.” You groaned and rolled your eyes up at Tony.

“Shut up and ignore us.” You told him, using your powers to control him. You watched his face soften and he turned to look out the window as you looked back at Steve.

“Whatever T’Challa’s did definitely fixed him. We run a check once a month with the code words. He’s completely cured.”

“I do the same thing just in case even though the only thing she actually participated in is the fight training and languages.” Steve nodded as he glanced over at Tony.

“I see that still works well.” He said with a slight chuckle. You nodded as you sat back in your chair.

“I’m learning to control it even more acutely. Watch.” You took Bucky’s hand and cast an image to Steve. You watched Steve startle a bit as you and Bucky appeared to change into an elder couple. “As long as I’m physically touching him, I can cast a blanket appearance so we appear to look like this, or we can completely disappear.” You watched him laugh as the two of you appeared to completely disappear. “And he isn’t affected by it.”

“That’s seriously cool.” Steve said as you dropped the image and reappeared.

“Could you imagine what HYDRA would have done if they had realized what she was capable of?” Bucky asked as the jet let Steve know you were arriving at your destination.

“I think it’s time for the team to know what she is capable of. I know you two would be coming with us to Russia but…” His voice trailed off and both of you nodded.

“We know. We talked about it when we were deciding whether to come here or not.” You said as you put your hat on.

“I just don’t want him to attack her or lock her up again. She’s not a threat to anyone.” Steve nodded as he guided the jet down.

“Once the team sees what I saw, I’m sure they will see what you and I see, pal.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You looked at the some of the Avengers with a straight face as Steve gave them the quick intro you and Bucky had given him.

“Start with the waterfall.” Bucky thought to you as Steve was wrapping up. You shook your head as you looked over at him.

“That’s your waterfall. I wouldn’t show that to anyone but you and Steve.” He nodded in understanding as he came up with another idea.

“Do the beach then. That one you used to live on.” You nodded in agreement as you looked back at Steve. He gave you a small nod and you cast the image into the minds around the room.

“Whoa!” Sam shouted as he nearly jumped out of his chair. You watched as everyone one looked around the room at the beach in awe.

“Now, this next one is a little freaky. But everyone is safe and still in the compound.” Steve said as you pulled the beach vision from their heads. You reached over and grabbed Bucky’s hand to exclude him from the vision as you looked at Tony.

“This is how I can definitively say I know I’m not brainwashed.” You said as you glanced down at your hands to make 100% sure Bucky was excluded before sending everyone else to the Hydra base. Tony and Clint both lurched out of their chairs as your screams filled their minds. You let the same image you fed Steve play through to the end before pulling the idea from their minds.

“I can also make people do things.” You said as you looked over at Tony. “Sit down in your chair.” You told him. He sat down immediately as you looked over at Sam. “Stand in that corner.” You commanded as you pointed to a corner a few feet away. “It’s kinda like the Force in Star Wars.” You told them as Sam moved to his corner. “Short commands only last until they are completed like with these two but I could tell someone to count to a million and they wouldn’t be able to stop until the command was completed.”

“It’s not fun when we argue.” Bucky joked as Sam came back over and took a seat in his chair.

“And I don’t always hear your thoughts. I do have some respect for others privacy.” You though, projecting the idea into everyone’s head. “We’ve been talking about trying to figure out if I can project say Bucky’s thoughts into Steve’s head or like, Clint’s into Natasha’s but it’s kinda hard to work on when it’s just the two of us.”

“And while she wasn’t brainwashed, she did still get the serum and training.” Bucky said as he moved and sat down in front of you with his legs crossed. “It’s kinda intimidating when your girl is stronger than you.” You giggled slightly as you bent down and tucked your hands under Bucky’s thighs. You effortlessly picked him up and held him at your chest for a moment before raising him up over your head. “Her max weight is over a thousand pounds.” Bucky said as you shifted him onto your hand and held him up effortlessly with your flesh arm. “With her real arm. Her enhanced arm is easily double that.”

“Now, while I am coming to you and showing you what I’m capable of.” You said as you shifted Bucky back into both your hands and put him down. “I’m not here to join the Avengers, preferably. We came here out of respect for you. We could easily take out the HYDRA cell ourselves but it’s still a sensitive situation for us one way or another. But we also both understand that we both have enhancements and abilities that could be considered a threat.” Bucky nodded as he glanced over at Steve.

“We understand that since you have seen what we are both capable of, if you as a group…” he said pointedly to Tony. “…feel that it would be best to keep us close, we simply ask that you keep us together.”

“And we have both also decided if you do choose to separate us, we will, unfortunately fight you for it.” Steve nodded as he looked at the group.

“Let’s deal with HYRDA and we’ll reevaluate from there.” He said as he looked over at Bucky. “So, what can you two tell us about this cell?”

——

“I’m not wearing that.” You thought to Bucky as Natasha held out a suit toward you. You shook your head at her as you took the tight fitting outfit from her.

“I bet that would make your ass look great.” Bucky thought as he held up the sleeve and looked at it with a smirk. You whacked him, hard as he simply chuckled.

“Out loud conversations!” Tony barked; beyond aggravated with your ability.

“Can I opt to just wear my own workout type clothes?” You asked Natasha as you looked at the suit. “I don’t think this thing is fitting over my arm.”

“Ooo… yea your ass looks good in those workout pants you have, too.” Bucky thought as Natasha agreed with you and took the suit back.

“You need to stop.” You thought to him as you looked over at him. “Or I can practice projecting your thoughts…”

“Nope! I’m done!” He thought as he sat back in his chair on the jet. 

“Any of this look familiar, guys?” Clint called out from the front of the jet. You and Bucky both got up and headed toward the front to look out the window.

“There.” Bucky said as he pointed toward a factory looking building a few miles a head. “From what we could see, that far side is the front.”

“Alright. Let’s get going guys.” Tony said as he got his Ironman suit ready.

“Sure you’re ready to go back in there?” Bucky asked you as you took off your jacket and tossed it on the bench.

“How bad could it be?” You asked as you tied your hair up into a pony table. “It’ll be like fighting a more talented version of you.”

“Oh, that’s cold.” Sam said with a laugh as you kissed Bucky’s cheek.

“I’m gunna tie you to a pole and ring the dinner bell.” He said as he pulled off his jacket. He smiled at you as you moved around him to pull his hair back into a bun for him.

“You’d have to catch me first.” He chuckled as he turned around to look at you.

“Like the time I caught you with no clothes on while you were making dinner?” He thought with a smirk. You forced yourself to ignore the clench in your stomach at the memory as you headed to the back of the Quinjet.

“Parachute?” Rhodey asked as he held a backpack out to you. You shook your head as the back of the jet began to open up.

“No thanks. I got it.” He looked at you, confused as you took a couple steps back. You heard Steve count down from three as you glanced over at Bucky. “Let’s get our revenge.” You thought as the two of you took off at a run and leapt out of the jet. 

A rush of excitement ripped through you as you soared toward the ground. You realized that this was a mission that you had essentially been preparing for for essentially 16 years. You giggled as you did a quick summersault in the air before landing on your feet between Bucky and Steve right at the main doors.

“They are alive!” One of the men shouted in Russian as panic ripped through the eight guards.

“Get them!” You smirked as you reached out and put your left hand on Steve’s neck as Bucky took a step behind you and touched your shoulder.

“I’m landed.” Sam thought as he landed on the building and crouched down.

“Good here.” Natasha thought. You slammed the HYDRA agents with pure blackness and smiled as they all started panicking.

“Blanket’s up.” Steve said into his comms as Tony and Rhodey swept in and took out the guards easily. You used your thoughts to guide Natasha to the door and dropped the blanket for only a moment as she broke in. You let go of Steve so he could head in with Natasha to go one way while you and Bucky went the other.

“Guns or grenades?” Bucky asked as he picked up a guard by his utility belt and looked over at you. You dead panned at him as you reached over, grabbed a piece of rusted metal and ripped it off the building.

“Revenge is pain, Buck.” You said as you tossed the metal to him. He smirked as you grabbed another place for yourself.

“I knew I loved you for a reason.” He said as the two of you headed inside. You took the path to the left and headed down the corridor quietly. Despite the fact that you could hear the other Avengers taking out HYDRA agents, the corridor you were on was quiet… too quiet.

“I don’t like this.” You thought as you tightened your metal grip around the metal piece you were holding.

“Neither do I.” Bucky thought as he stepped to the opposite wall to look to the right down a hallway. You rounded the corner on the left and took two steps when a loud alarm filled the room. You spun toward the noise as two thick panels fell from the ceiling and trapped you in the hall.

“Bucky!” You screamed as you tried to dig your fingers into the concrete below the door. You tried to find him by his thoughts, but the metal door was blocking him from you.

“You think you could escape us undetected, soldier? Think we didn’t know you and the disgrace were watching us?” A voice called out above you a second before the ground gave out under you. You slammed your metal fingers and the rusted pipe into the door as your body fell down the hole that appeared below you.

“Baby, hurry!” You screamed as the concrete below the door started to give way. Your heart soared as the end of his metal pole appeared under the door when suddenly, the panel door behind you flew open.

“Try again, soldier.” The man said. You screamed as he stretched a pole across the hole and slammed a needle into your shoulder. Everything went dark as your hold on the door gave way and you feel down the hole into a dark basement.

~~~~~~~~~ 

A strong electric shock forced you awake with a scream. You could hear a man reading off the Russian code words as jolt after jolt ricocheted through your body. As the man said the last word, ‘freight train’, you forced yourself to feign complacency as you fought to catch your breath.

“Good morning, soldier.” You glanced up at the man for only a second as electric aftershocks ripped through your body. 

“Ready to comply.” You replied automatically. You watched him flip closed a red leather book with a black star on it as he leaned forward to look at your eyes.

“Are you sure?” You kept your eyes straight forward and nodded as he reached his hand out for a thick file. “Extraction and extermination. No witnesses.” He said as he forced the file into your metal hand. You nodded as you got up out of the chair as mechanically as possible and headed toward the area you knew they had to have your ‘suit’ set up. You forced yourself not to cry as you stepped into the changing room and looked at the female Winter Soldier get-up. 

Every bit of you told you to use your abilities to escape but there was something that told you that doing so would only cost you your life. You had to fight with every fiber of your being to control how uncomfortable you felt as you stripped off your clothes and changed into the suit, realizing at that moment that you had now had no idea how long you had been out.

“You belong to HYDRA.” A man said behind you as you were pulling on your mask. “Don’t you ever forget that, soldier.” You nodded as you grabbed the file off the bench and turned to look at him.

“Hail HYDRA.” You told him as you paused in front of him. He nodded as he handed you a bag of weapons.

“Hail HYDRA.” You tossed the bag over your shoulder as you headed out of the door. You didn’t know what to do as you climbed the stairs two at a time to get out of the base but you knew, without a shadow of a doubt in your mind that the picture you were going to see when you opened that file was going to be the face of the love of your life.

—— 

You made yourself known to the Avengers immediately upon leaving the HYRDA base. You found the nearest big city and made sure you walked past every camera you could find on the outskirts; leaving a clear path of where they could find you. You had no idea if they were even looking for you but you also knew that since your mission was to take out the Avengers in their entirety and bring back Bucky anyways, this would be the best way to appear like you were doing your job. 

By the end of the first night, you had hauled up in an abandoned building and took an inventory of the weapons you had while you tried to come up with a plan. The soft sound of footsteps landing outside your front door had your head whipping up and your used your abilities to listen; praying that it was the Avengers.

“(Y/N)?” Bucky thought hesitantly as he turned the locked door knob. You jumped to your feet and ran across the room.

“Get in here.” You hissed as you ripped the door open and pulled him inside. You shut the door and backed away from it, not knowing if HYDRA would be watching you at that moment or not. You waited a second, listening for any other movement before you turned to him and lost it. “Buck…” You dissolved into tears and fell into his chest. You could hear his violent thoughts toward HYDRA as he wrapped you in his arms.

“Hey, I’m here. I got you.” He walked you back to couch, sat down and pulled you onto his lap. “I’m sorry, baby. I am so sorry.” You shook your head.

“Just help me.” He nodded as he brushed his hand over your back.

“I won’t let them hurt you again. We’ll get them, doll. I promise.” You jumped as the door opened once more and Bucky scrambled to hold on to you before you could attack or run. “Hey, it’s just Steve. Just Steve, baby.” Your whole body shook as Steve’s eyes landed on your shaking, broken form. “We need to get her the fuck out of here. Make it look like we knocked her out, though just in case.” Steve nodded as he turned to look out the door.

“Get the jet here. We have to go, now.” Bucky helped you to your shaking feet.

“Is this all you have?” Bucky asked as he pointed to the file and the bag of guns.

“Take the file, leave the weapons. It’s probably being tracked. He asked me if I was sure I was ready to comply.” Bucky paused, bent over with his hand on the file as he looked back at you.

“What else?” He asked in Russian as he picked up the file and turned fully to you.

“He said I needed to remember I belong to HYDRA.” Bucky licked his lips as his fist tightened around the file.

“You belong to no one but me, you hear me?” You nodded as he stepped toward you and kissed your forehead. “Let’s get you home, doll. We’ll stop them.” You nodded as he handed Steve the folder and picked you up. He looked down at you and sighed. “Play dead for me, doll.” With a small nod, you let your whole body go lax in his arms. He stood there for only a moment, looking at the woman he loved in the suit that caused him so much pain and suffering before he carried you out of the building and directly onto the Quinjet.

——

“How long was I missing?” You asked softly as you laid on Bucky’s chest between his legs on the queen sized bed in his room at the Avengers Facility. He brushed his metal fingers through your hair, pulling it out over his bare chest as his right arm held you to him tightly.

“Eight months. I never stopped looking for you, baby doll. We got close twice but then they would move you and we’d have to start all over again.” You nodded slowly as you brushed your thumb on his side.

“They must have put me in cryo some how. I just remember falling and then getting shocked awake.” You didn’t even have to listen to his thoughts to know he was beyond livid and heartbroken that he couldn’t prevent you from going through what you had to go through. He stayed quiet as the two of you laid in bed, waiting to hear news of what happened to the new HYRDA base. 

The team had gone all out. Every person that had been considered an Avenger at any point was called in to tackle the new HYDRA cell. After finding out that HYRDA still wanted their soldiers back, it was decided that Bucky was staying behind with you. Not that either of you minded that. After making sure that your arm and head hadn’t been permanently tampered with and that no trackers, bombs, ‘other deathtraps or surprises’ were added, Tony told FRIDAY to lock the two of you in Bucky’s room until they returned.

“I’m so glad you’re back in my arms.” Bucky said softly as he kissed the top of your head. “I missed you… so much.” You nodded in agreement as you tightened your arms around him. 

“Can we just stay here forever? I don’t wanna run anymore.” He nodded as he wrapped his arms around you tightly.

“Yea, baby. Anything you want.” You nuzzled against his chest in gratitude as he rubbed his hands on your back. “Hey, you never did get a chance to tell me that other story. The flies one.” Your brow furrowed as you shifted your head and rested your chin on his chest.

“Lord of the Flies? I didn’t tell you that one in Belarus?” He shook his head as he brushed your hair back behind your ear. You nodded as you laid your head back down on his chest and hugged your arms tighter around him. 

“Alright, let’s see…” You thought in his mind as you gathered the story in your head to play it like a movie in his. You felt Bucky reach down, grab the blanket at the end of the bed and pull it up over the two of you as you started the story in his head. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the headboard to listen to the story; finally content that the love of his life was home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So picnic in the yard, bubble bath and you’re cooking everyone dinner?” You teased as you sat down at the bar at looked at Bucky with your eyebrow raised. “What’s going on with you?” He smiled as he glanced back over his shoulder at you.

“I’m just happy. We can finally be normal.” You giggled as you poured yourself and him some sweet tea. It had taken two months for the Avengers to locate and destroy every single HYDRA cell they could. They had just gotten back with the good news the day before and Bucky had insisted on making dinner to celebrate.

“You’re up to something.” You told him as he shoved the pork roast he was making into the oven and started the timer. He turned around with a shit-eating grin and shrugged.

“Can’t a guy just be happy?” You folded your arms in front of your body and shook your head. 

“Do I need to read your mind?” You teasingly thought. He threw his metal arm in front of his head and frowned.

“Don’t do that!” He shouted with a laugh and a pout. “Don’t cheat!”

“Then tell me what’s going on!” You laughed as you reached over and grabbed his arm. You pulled him around the counter to you with a smile as he wiggled his hips between your knees with a smile. 

“Are you sure you wanna know?” He teased as he ran his hands up your thighs to your hips. Your face deadpanned as you looked at him.

“No, I don’t wanna know at all.” You teased. You laughed and wrapped your legs around him before he could wiggle away when he fake frowned at you. “Please tell me?” 

“I don’t want to now.” He joked as he took a step closer to you. You let out a small, throaty whine and pouted as he kissed your forehead. “OK, I’ll tell you.” You cheered as you ran your hands up his chest and wrapped them around his neck.

“Are you getting me a puppy?” You asked as he rested his forehead against yours. With a small laugh, he shook his head.

“Nope. I’m giving you this.” He moved his head back and placed something in your palm with a smile. “I’m nearly 100% positive it’s the same one but since someone wouldn’t leave me alone long enough to go back to get it…” You looked down at your palm and your heart melted instantly.

“Bucky…” You gasped as he took the diamond and Larimar engagement ring you had seen in a store in the Dominican Republic and carefully slid in on your finger.

“(Y/N), from the moment you started saving my from my nightmares twenty something years ago, I knew you were something special to me. And now that I have you as my own, I never want to let you go. After everything I have seen, everything I have done, I never thought that finding love would be possible for me. But you…” He smiled as he brushed his thumb across your cheek, wiping away your tears. “You showed me it was possible to be loved no matter what I have done. You showed me I could be loved. I love you with everything I have and I don’t want to live without you in my life. So, (Y/N) (Y/M/N) (Y/L/N), will you marry me?” 

It was as if a switch went off in your head. You could see the desperation and pure love in Bucky’s eyes before they blurred in your mind. With a small shake of your head, you looked at him, wanting to tell him yes, needing him to know you loved him but you just couldn’t say it.

“You’re a disgrace to HYDRA.” You told him in Russian as you wrapped your metal hand around his metal arm. “You need to come back with me. They will fix you.”

“Baby?” Bucky said nervously as you stood up from the stool.

“No, it’s OK. They just want to reset you. I’ll be there, too.” You explained as you started to guide him toward the door. “Come on.” You felt him rip his arm away from you and you turned calmly as he took a step away from you.

“S…soldier?” He whispered in Russian as tears welled in his eyes. You stepped back over to him with a reassuring smile and nodded.

“They aren’t mad at you, soldier. They told me they just want to fix you.” Bucky took another step away, keeping his eyes locked on you as he turned his head toward the door.

“FRIDAY… get Steve." He said as he slowly walked away from you. “And tell Tony to suit up quickly.” Your face hardened when you heard the names of the Avengers.

“So you side with them, do you?” You sneered in Russian as you grabbed a large knife from the block on the counter. “I’m giving you a chance, soldier. Come with me.” He shook his head as he held up his hands.

“It’s gunna be OK, doll. Just stay with me…” You heard the distant whirl of the Ironman suit as Steve slid into the kitchen and your mission clicked in. With a growl, you lunged at Captain America with your knife aimed at his chest. 

“What the hell?” He shouted as he deflected the attack, slammed his fist into your stomach and knocked the knife from your hand. You flew back across the room and instantly recovered with a roll as the three men circled you. They realized very quickly that you were the ultimate fighter as you began to easily take on all three of them like there was nothing to it.

“Don’t hurt her!” Bucky yelled as you threw Ironman through a wall by his ankle before he could blast you while deflecting a punch from Bucky with your metal arm at the same time. You knocked Bucky on his ass with a swift kick as Steve lunged at you.

“FRIDAY, call every…” Steve shouted a second before you threw him into a wall. You grabbed your knife from the floor as you turned back on Bucky with vengeance in your eyes.

“You choose them?” You demanded as you threw your fist into his jaw while dodging another hit from Tony. Bucky shook his head as he did his best to fight back without hurting you.

“Vis, grab her!” Tony shouted. You ducked under a punch from Steve and rolled away from Vision toward Natasha; who was only half awake from her post mission two-day long ‘nap’. The woman was able to wrap her thighs around your throat and rip you to the ground as something heavy landed on your midsection and legs.

“Knock her out!” Steve screamed as your mind and vision got heavy and blurry. You heard someone say sorry before a blinding pain ricocheted through your head. You blinked against the pain for only a moment before a second hit made everything go black.

——

Pain pounded in your head as you slowly came too. You tried to rub your throbbing temple but you couldn’t move your hand. With a panicked gasp, your eyes flew open. Your whole body was held down in a chair in Tony’s moveable jail cell by the thick and wide metal straps of a full, metal straight jacket. As you tried to figure out where you were, a screen in front of you crackled to life.

“Hey (Y/N).” Steve said gently as he gave you a small wave.

“What’s going on?” You groaned as you looked around. You were alone in the Quinjet and by the subtle rock, you knew you were flying somewhere. “Where’s Bucky?” You looked back at Steve and your brow furrowed at the sight of the rapidly healing black eye he had. “What happened to you?” You watched him look off camera for a moment before looking back at you.

“There was an incident. You… you turned.”

“No…” You gasped as you strained against the bindings holding you down. Tears filled your eyes as you shook your head. “What…”

“We don’t know, exactly.” Steve said as he looked off to the side again. “You were with Barnes and he…”

“Don’t…” You heard Bucky say off camera. “Not the time.” You slammed your head back against the seat and bit your lip to stop your tears as you clenched your fists tight against your sides. 

“We’re taking you to Wakanda for right now. We’re…” You shook your head and squeezed your eyes closed.

“Is everyone OK?” You asked, dreadfully. You rolled your head to look at Steve as he slowly nodded.

“It’s gunna be OK, (Y/N).” He said softly before the screen went black. You screamed in the tiny space as your heart ripped apart in agony.

“Damn it!” You screamed as you felt your heart shatter in your chest. You couldn’t remember what happened but you knew if you were in forced isolation and Bucky didn’t even want to see you, it couldn’t be good.

——

As the jet you were in landed beside the other jet, you scooted back impossibly farther in your chair. You waited for the door to open before you shook your head.

“Don’t let me out of this thing.” You said as Tony and Rhodey walked into the jet, suits on and weapons ready.

“We don’t plan on it ’til we have to.” Tony sighed as he gestured for the Wakandan’s to come in and get your cell. Tears softly fell down your cheeks as you rested your head back on the chair and closed your eyes. You couldn’t even say a word to your own defense as a fork lift was brought in to bring your cell inside. 

“Let me see her!” Bucky screamed to someone as you were carted down the hallway. Your eyes flew open as Bucky raced forward and jumped on the forks causing the whole thing to lurch violently. His blood shot eyes found yours as he held on to the edge of the box with his metal hand and laid his flesh hand on the glass in front of your face. “You’re gunna go into cryo for a bit, OK doll?” He said as tears spilled from his eyes. Your stomach turned when you saw a semi-healed gash and bruises on his face. “I’m gunna make this better, baby.” You nodded as he glanced back over his shoulder to see where you were going before looking back at you.

“I’m sorry.” You choked as you searched his broken face. “I’m so sorry, baby.” He shushed you as the fork lift stopped outside of the med bay and started to set your cell down.

“Hey, none of that. It’s OK, I got you.” You nodded as Bucky was pulled back by Steve, to be replaced by Tony and Rhodey once more.

“Come on, (Y/N).” Rhodey said as he unlocked your cell and pulled the door open. You didn’t fight as the sounds of guns cocking became the ominous soundtrack to your movements.

“…no, they are putting me under too. I won’t leave her. I can’t leave my… my…” Bucky shouted at Tony as you were led into the med bay.

“Let him go.” Steve said, the sound of pain and defeat obvious in his voice. “Just… let it happen.” You kept your tear blurred gaze on the ground while you followed the group into an unfamiliar part of the Wakandan med bay. After a moment, you felt Bucky wrap his arm around your waist and turn with you toward a cryostasis chamber. As Natasha and Steve unbuckled your straight jacket, Bucky practically threw himself into the chamber to ensure he was going under as well.

“You’ll be under hopefully less than a year but it may be longer.” One of T’Challa’s scientists said as the King stood guard a short ways away completely suited up. “We don’t know what your words are…”

“That’s fine.” You interrupted softly as you bowed your head to him. “Just fix this.” The man nodded as he gestured you forward. Tears filled your eyes as you squeezed yourself on the small platform between Bucky’s feet despite someone, probably Tony, protesting Bucky going under with you. 

You heard the doctor say to ‘double everything’ as Bucky wrapped his arms around you and held you tightly to his chest. You wanted to look up at him, wanted to see the love in his eyes but you couldn’t bring yourself to move your head in his direction. Instead, with tears streaming down your cheeks, you wrapped your arms around his waist and laid your head on his chest.

“I love you.” You whispered softly as the doctors prepared the pair of you for cryosleep. You felt him kiss the top of your head, his tears falling into your hair as he ran his hand across the back of your head.

“I love you, too, doll.” You gripped his shirt tight in your hands as the glass to the chamber closed around you and just before you were put to sleep, you looked up at Bucky to commit his eye color to memory… just in case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

A slow, steady beep pulled you from sleep. You heard a deep groan in front of you, the vibrations of which vibrated against your cheek. You pulled your arms closer to you to try to rub your arms to bring some warmth to them but something large was between you and your arms. You felt a warmth behind the mass in front of you and you wiggled closer to it as your memories started coming back to you.

“Internal core temp rising.” You heard someone say softly in Wakandan. You whined as something tightened around your upper body. 

“Someone let Captain America know they are waking up.”

“Babe?” You heard Bucky croak above you. You whined in response as you tried to piece together what was going on.

“Don’t try to talk, yet. You have been in cryo for almost two years.” You forced your eyes open for only a moment before you slammed them closed again and groaned. Every inch of your body ached and tingled as you buried your face into Bucky’s chest. You felt a warm blanket land over both of you.

“BP rising.” You felt Bucky start to twist his fingers in your hair slowly and you curled his shirt in your hands.

“They awake?” You heard Steve ask, his voice entirely to loud. You and Bucky both shushed him as you pulled each other closer. 

“They’ll be a little sensitive for a day or two but they should be OK.” Someone told Steve. You tried opening your eyes once more as you tightened your grip on Bucky’s shirt.

“Can you still here me?” You thought to Bucky; causing your brain to throb. Bucky groaned and tightened his arms around you.

“Don’t do that.” He mumbled as he tucked his head against yours. You nuzzled closer to him as feeling began to return to your limbs.

“What took so long?” Steve asked softly as Bucky shifted his leg against yours. You curled your toes as you moved your frozen feet against his.

“We had to go, word by word and phrase by phrase through over forty different languages til we were sure we had run through the ones she knew.” Someone said as you rolled your stiff neck to look up at Bucky. “That’s what took the first year. Then we ran through the other 6,000 languages in the world, just to be sure.” You forced your eyes open and focused on the steel blue eyes of the man you loved.

“Hi handsome.” You whispered as Steve and the doctor continued to talk behind you. You slowly reached up and brushed your cold metal finger down his nose. He shivered as a lazy smile spread across his face.

“Will you marry me?” You smiled at him and nodded as you rested your hand on his cheek.

“Sure baby. But… I feel like you asked me that already.” He huffed a laugh and nodded as his hands slid up your back.

“It didn’t count until now.” He responded, sparing you the memories of his last proposal. You smiled as he stretched down and gave you a chaste kiss. “I love you, doll.” He whispered against your lips. You smiled as you looked up at him through your lashes.

“I love you, too.”


End file.
